Vandals Firebomb Jewish School Library
Anti-Semitic attack leaves Montreal's oldest Jewish school library in ruins; no arrests so far
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 5/1/2004
A group of counselors were on hand to greet students on April 15 as they returned to the United Talmud Torahs elementary school in Montreal, Canada, just 10 days after vandals firebombed the school library on the eve of Passover.
School officials intentionally left the library door wide open so students, parents, and the public could see the destruction for themselves. "We didn't want to minimize it or pretend it didn't happen," says Shelley Paris, the school's spokesperson. "It was important for people to understand the kind of damage that violence does."
United Talmud Torahs, the oldest Jewish day school in Canada, was closed at the time of the blaze and no one was hurt, but it left the library a charred ruin. Only a box of 25 books was salvaged from the 10,000-volume collection, which served some 235 K–6 students. The fire did not spread to the rest of the school.
"Everything either fried or melted," says school librarian Dan Holobow. "The books were melted or water damaged beyond repair. Our three computers melted beyond recognition."
While the total cost of rebuilding the school library is still unknown, it will take at least $225,000 to replace its entire collection of English, French, and Hebrew books, Paris estimates. Hundreds of donations in the form of books and cash have already been pouring in from other schools, public libraries, and individuals in the U.S. and Canada. School officials have also created a binder filled with e-mails expressing sympathy from all around the world so "students can see they are not alone," Paris adds.
Holobow, who has been working closely with counselors trying to console students, is already busy rebuilding the library's collection, which also housed books on the Holocaust. The new expanded library will include an automation system and more computers.
Montreal police would not reveal the contents of letters found taped to the school when firefighters arrived before dawn to fight the blaze, but they did classify it as a hate crime. The Ottawa Citizen has reported that the notes indicated that the bombing was linked to the March 22 killing of radical Islamic Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, by the Israeli military in Gaza and warned of more attacks.
Jean Charest, the Quebec premier, who visited the school on April 8, said the scene would have a lasting effect on him. "Burning a school is in itself a vile act, because it touches the future of our society, but when it is done in the name of racism and intolerance, every Quebecer must stand up and denounce it to make sure it never happens again," he said in a statement. Prime Minister Paul Martin said, "We must all utterly condemn this cowardly and racist act."
Yves Surprenant, an assistant director with the Quebec police department, told the National Post that the attack was the most serious incident of anti-Semitic violence he has seen in 24 years on the force. At press time, the police had made no arrests.
For information about donations, visit www.utt.qc.ca.
